The Reflection of the Roots of Iran and the United States Conflict in International Arena from the Viewpoint of American Media Diplomacy (The Case Study: The Movie 300, the Rise of an Empire)

In recent decade Hollywood cinema is increasingly has paid attention to producing films and serials with the political contents relating to Iran. The set of movies called “300” is trying to exclusively deal with the difference of political thought of ancient Iran and ancient Greece. Meanwhile the movie 300 tries to simulate the confrontation of ancient Iranian thinking and Greece thinking with the present confrontation of Islamic Republic of Iran thought and the United States. The article first examines the principle of the thinking projected in the movie “300: the Rise of an Empire” and then explains the basis of the contending thought. The hypothesis of the article is that, the movie “300” wants to infuse this point that the political foundation of thinking of East and West had been different form the ancient time and the political elevation of West against the political obstruction and despotism of the East had been continuing ever since. Therefore, the conflict between Iran and the United States in international scene is a confrontation between freedom and democracy and despotism which has their roots in ancient time. The methodology used in the paper is a mix of Van Dyke’s discourse and Roland Barthes analysis.